The UNDP and the Ministry of Justice of Mozambique have partnered in support to the Justice sector and Human Rights since the late 1990s. Projects implemented in the last decade have
produced visible results and have supported the introduction of a new philosophy leading to improved service delivery in the justice context. Such philosophy includes in a few districts
the one-stop-shop approach to service delivery embodied in the “houses of Justice”, commonly called “Palaces of Justice”, where all the Criminal Justice institutions are in the
same building. This has been gradually allowing for pursuing the goal of simplifying a criminal justice process that so far has been too complicated to the general citizen as it has been
generally offered in different geographical areas and distant buildings and therefore inaccessible to citizens in decentralized areas. By constructing and equipping “Palaces of
Justice” at the District level, focus is being given to supporting disadvantaged groups and work with beneficiaries often marginalized by those aid-programs that work only at national
level.

The section related to the support to vulnerable groups under the 2012-2016 UNDAF was built on lessons learned in the last decade by UNDP and 8 more agencies, setting common objectives
and complementary tasks.

The Project was initiated in January 2012 and will end in June 2017, following a six-month extension period. The project’s total budget is of US$ 2,790,000 for the overall period. The
Project is housed in the Ministry of Justice, Constitutional and Religious Affairs, which is the institutions which coordinates the support to all other justice institutions, including
the Supreme Court, the Attorney General’s Office, the Correctional Services, the Free Legal Aid Institute, and the National Human Rights Commission. For the first 3 years, the Project
benefited from a resident international Chief Technical Advisor, who provided direct technical assistance to a team headed by the National Coordinator. Currently, the project is headed by
the national Project Coordinator, who leads a team of 2 staff members.

The Project aims to contribute to the strengthening of the access to justice and human rights protection in Mozambique, by focusing on 3 main priorities:

· Supporting the process of introducing or strengthening innovative justice instruments (such as alternatives to imprisonment, existing Palaces of Justice and free legal aid) and
enabling Justice Institutions to more effectively implement their mandate;

· Supporting the establishment of the National Commission on Human Rights.

The agreed objectives are coherent with the strategic goals set by the Mozambican Justice Sector in the “Plano Estratégico Integrado da Justiça 2009-2014” (PEI) as well as the
“Human Rights National Action Plan - Plano Nacional de Protecção e Promoção dos Direitos Humanos” (PNPPDH), the “APRM Action Plan - Programa Nacional de Acção 2010-2014 do
MARP” and the 2011-2014 PARP (Poverty Reduction Plan).

While providing support across the entire spectrum of the Justice System continuum and devoting efforts to building the capacity of all Justice Institutions in need, a decision was made
to give priority to specific and realistically achievable outputs for each of the aforementioned areas. In pursuing such outputs, specific attention was given, whenever possible, to
produce results at the decentralized level by working in selected districts.

The Ministry of Justice of Mozambique has placed the introduction of Alternative Measures to Imprisonment, a systemic change that rethinks the whole concept of “punishment”, among the
main priorities of Justice Sector Reform. In 2010 and 2011 UNDP and the Ministry of Justice worked on drafting the norms that lead to the introduction of the aforementioned mechanism and
that was expected to enter into force in the second half of 2012, although the law only entered into force in the second half of 2015. Based on the initial thinking the project was
supposed to contribute to the operationalization of the new department for execution of the alternative measures, as well as provide training for Judges, Prosecutors and defense attorneys
and other actors and inform communities.

In January 2016 Mozambique’s Human Rights record was reviewed for the second time, as part of the Universal Periodic Review mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council and out of 210
recommendations, 180 have been agreed. Following the review, the Government started a process of dissemination of the UPR outcome as well as a consultation process that will lead to the
formulation of the UPR Action Plan. The consultation process carried out as part of the UPR exercise, will also serve in the elaboration of the National Human Rights Action Plan. It is
considered a best practice that these exercises are undertaken, if necessary, together. Like in the first UPR review (February 2011) Supporting the implementation of these two reference
frameworks is a common goal for all those agencies which contribute to the UNDAF chapter dedicated to enhancing respect for human rights. While pursuing this general goal, the project
intended to give specific attention to supporting the establishment of a National Human Rights Institution.

The adoption of Law nº 33/2009 of 22 December 2009, introduced in the legal system of Mozambique the Comissão Nacional dos Direitos Humanos (CNDH), an Institution with the mandate to:
1) promote and protect Human Rights in Mozambique 2) be the leading agency in conducting Human Rights awareness campaigns 3) cooperate with the competent authorities to promote respect of
Human Rights and 4) interact with citizens by collecting their complaints and investigating them. UNDP has provided support to this new institution, following the request by the Ministry
of Justice, which was mandated to establish the Commission.

Since 2007, UNDP has been involved in supporting country’s efforts to make legal counselling available, especially in rural areas where these services are most needed. In the timeframe
between 2007-2009 a UNDP project supported IPAJ, Universities and Legal Clinics for the provision of free legal assistance with over 3500 cases having been addressed. The current project
aimed at supporting IPAJ to further expanding its outreach by funding the training of its officials and contributing to the raise of citizen’s awareness of its services.